Chennai Based Online Taxi Aggregator NTL in Talks to Raise Rs 400Cr to Compete with Ola

While Ola has moved swiftly over a period of the last two years to become one of the leading Indian players in the taxi aggregation space, its competition doesn’t end with international firm Uber. Conventional cab providers like Meru, Easycabs etc also jumped into the game of app based booking, and now another such company is joining raised.

Chennai-based taxi aggregator NTLis in talks to raise around Rs 400 crore from private equity funds to expand its presence to Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad, beginning its national drive with about 500 cars in each of these markets. It has received radio taxi licenses in these cities.

NTL Taxi Pvt. Ltd. owns and operate an online portal providing taxi services through a divers range of vehicles. It operates as a subsidiary of New Travel Lines (India) Pvt. Ltd. About six months ago, the company had begun aggregating auto-rickshaws with a target of getting about 15,000 of them on its mobile application. The number now stands just above 1,000 vehicles, while its competitor Ola has already crossed the 10,000 mark, drawing them in hundreds with daily and weekly cash incentives, and Uber is also following the same path.

The company had earlier shunned the VC-backed cab businesses while taking pride in its 15 year old business, however now understands the importance of raising funds for scaling up fast and matching the competition.